Anna Gallegos

Gloria Rainwater, a 59-year-old Missouri City resident, brought poll tax receipts from 1903 and 1904 to be examined by Smithsonian experts as part of “Save Our African American Treasures: A National Collections Initiative of Discovery and Preservation” at the Houston Public Library on Saturday.

“I have tons and tons of family papers and photos so I came today to learn how to preserve that and to get some answers,” said Rainwater, who wanted to find out how her great-grandfather from Bastrop County was able to vote when most African-Americans could not.